Region

A town of about 200,000 Daraya is notable mainly for its grapes — and, truth be told, for its lack of social diversity. If Damascus is too full of people of different faiths, military sorts, and Baathist Party members, you beat a retreat to Daraya, where a calm coexistence has traditionally existed among only Christian Arabs, and the town’s majority: Sunni Arab Muslims.

Have a good Christmas, stop executions in Japan says Claudio Giusti, international campaigner against the death penalty as he launches a new campain.

In the middle of Argentina 3.000 people gathered, at the summit of a lost mountain.
Summoned by three local gurus, the flock anxiously awaited for the miraculous hour, 11:11
of the 11th date of the 11th month of year 2011, the moment when the 11th portal of cosmic
energy would open. It is a new beginning, so they claim.

London – It will take two centuries for sub-Saharan Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, according to NGO WaterAid, which calls on national leaders to commit 3.5 percent of their annual budget to the sector.

Joined by actor Martin Sheen, people from across the Americas call for an end to US military training school.

Music fills the air and the atmosphere crackles with excitement as people from around the U.S. and across the Americas pour onto Fort Benning Road, the main entrance to the military base and the home of the US Army School of the Americas.

“Another Iraq is Possible with Peace and Human Rights,”
agree 250 representatives of civil society organizations who met October 8-9 in Erbil, Iraq.

A final declaration from their work together has been just released in Arabic, French, Italian,
and English and lays out a vision for social activists working to promote national sovereignty
of Iraqi people.

Bali – UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon challenged the Asia and Pacific region “to assume global leadership on issues of international concern, including climate change, sustainable development, access to food and energy, human rights and the empowerment of women.”

Paris – The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will temporarily halt some activities owing to the $65 million budget shortfall resulting from the U.S. decision to withhold its dues.

Brasilia- Brazil and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a new initiative to help developing countries run their own national school meal programmes to advance the nutrition and education of children.

Geneva – Over 12,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Yemen by boat in October, the highest monthly total since the United Nations refugee agency began tracking the flow of between the Horn of Africa and Yemen nearly six years ago. Many of them are victims of abductions, extortions, kidnappings and sexual assaults.